


Squish the cat

by DefaultJane



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Childhood Trauma, Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Love, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24327436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaultJane/pseuds/DefaultJane
Summary: Catra's shedding and her blatant refusal to deal with it get on Adora's nerves so she enlists Glimmer to help grooming Catra. Unfortunately they don't know that Catra hates being groomed for reasons that are not quite as obvious as one might think.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 99





	Squish the cat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samantha Bellamy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Samantha+Bellamy).



> [Squish that cat](https://youtu.be/OAGfx7eB3gA) is a term I learned from a vet when I had to turn to the Internet for help when my cat had dental surgery and I had quite a difficult time getting him to co-operate when I was caring for him after (ever tried rinsing a cat's sore mouth with saline after they already don't trust you because of the whole being tricked into going to the vet-thing? It's not pretty).

It was late in the morning when Adora returned to the bedroom after having gotten up a couple of hours prior. She knew Catra wasn’t the early morning-type, and had long since given up trying to convince her to get up earlier. Rather than waste energy on that, she’d gone for a brisk walk in the woods and then joined Glimmer for breakfast before returning to Catra.

Sunlight filled the room, the beam focused on Catra’s side of the bed —the main reason she’d insisted it was her side being that. Catra lay on her stomach, dressed in shorts, and a crop top Adora knew Catra had stolen from her after tearing it up a little to make it her own, one arm wrapped around the pillow she’d tucked under her chin, the other arm dangling over the edge of the bed. Adora removed her boots and jacket, and slipped back in bed quietly, shoving pillows aside so that she could press herself against Catra’s side.

“Hey Catra,” Adora smirked, the magicat’s ear flicking toward the sound, a quiet purr softly rumbling from her as her body reacted to Adora’s presence on instinct. Adora leaned over and nuzzled the spot just above Catra’s ear only to retreat half a second later after getting a mouthful of hair.

“Pfft! Blergh,” she sputtered, repeatedly spitting dryly in an attempt to expel the downy hair she’d managed to inhale.   
“What are you doing?” Catra’s purr was interrupted by the sleepy utterance as the noise Adora was making grew loud enough to disturb her sleep. 

“Coughing up hairballs,” Adora said, vigorously rubbing her itching face with her palm. “Urgh, it’s up my nose, it’s going into my brain,” she said dramatically and pushed her pinky up her nostril in an attempt to dig out the errant hairs.

“That’s attractive,” Catra mumbled with a sleepy smirk.  
“Ow, I scratched the inside my nose!” Adora yelped. “Is it bleeding? It feels like it’s bleeding.”

“It’s not. Were you always such a dork?” Catra laughed into the pillow as Adora repeatedly wiped the underside of her nose with her fingers and checked for blood, which there was none.

“No. Were you always shedding so much?” Adora asked, nodding toward the sheets and pillows that were covered in a thin layer of fine hair. Typically it didn’t have a chance to become a problem (or, an annoyance more than a problem really) before the sheets were changed for fresh ones, but it was spring, which meant Catra had a lot of excess hair to lose. 

“...so I’m shedding a little, it’s a thing you know that happens, always so dramatic with you, isn't it, Adora,” Catra muttered, a hint of self-consciousness beginning to creep into her voice.

“I know, and it’s a price I happily pay for having a cute and fluffy girlfriend,” Adora assured, running her palm over Catra’s back, the motion sending a cloud of tiny hairs flowing in the air, the beam of sunlight making them extremely easily visible, “but would it kill you to brush a little?”

“It might! You’d have me take that risk just because you find some magicat hair mildly inconvenient? You monster,” Catra complained. 

“I just want to be able to nuzzle you without drowning in hair,” Adora said and moved to straddle Catra’s legs, running her fingers through her hair, down her back and her arms until she could take Catra’s hands into her own and raise them up, pinning them down on each side of Catra’s head. 

“You’re squishing me,” Catra mumbled into the pillow.  
“You like it when I squish you,” the blonde smiled and rested her cheek against the spot between Catra’s shoulder blades, smiling as she felt the subtle vibration of Catra’s purr against her face.

“I believe I said I liked it when She-Ra— wait a minute,” Catra’s content purr was cut off and her eyes flew open wide, her ears twitching when she heard someone sneaking in the hallway outside the room. “What are you up to?” she questioned and tried to get up but Adora didn’t move, effectively keeping her pinned to the mattress with her weight.

“...nothing..?”  
“Then why aren’t you letting me—”

“Now!” Adora called out and in a flash, Glimmer had teleported into the room and made her way toward the bed, a little conspiracy she and Adora had hatched up during breakfast to deal with the stubborn magicat.  
“No!” Catra squawked when she saw the brush in Glimmer’s hand.

“You know this is necessary, why are you so against it, I imagine you’ll feel lighter afterward too,” Adora said, rested her whole weight limply on Catra and held onto her hands tighter when the magicat hissed and squirmed, trying to escape from having her hair brushed.

“This isn’t grooming, it’s torture!” Catra wailed when the brush got stuck in a stubborn tangle and pinched her.   
“Now who’s being dramatic?” Adora chuckled. 

“I really don’t understand why you’re so against this, I’d like it if someone brushed my hair,” Glimmer commented as she worked to gather up as much of the loose hair into the brush as she could.

“Of course you would,” Catra muttered into the pillow, her tail flicking furiously from side to side, and Adora was quite sure Catra was attempting to whip her with it. Too bad for her she only managed relatively soft thumps against Adora’s calves.

“Bow doesn’t brush your hair?” Adora teased Glimmer.  
“It’s actually never occurred to me to ask him to do it,” Glimmer said.

“Then go ask him and leave me alone,” Catra interjected. She tolerated being brushed for about half a minute longer before squirming again and this time Adora let her go. Catra hissed, rolled off the bed and bolted out of the bedroom on all fours. 

“Well, that could’ve gone better,” Glimmer said at the same time as Adora commented that it had gone better than she’d expected.

* * *

“I thought I’d find you here,” Adora said when she entered the Bright Moon garden which was kept neat but it had never flourished quite the same after Shadow Weaver hadn’t been able to attend to it.   
“Leave me alone, I’m mad at you,” Catra muttered as she sat on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms around them.

“I could tell from the tone of voice you’re flicking your tail at me,” Adora said with a wry smile, and Catra wrapped her tail around herself, the tip of it still furiously twitching and patting the ground. 

She scooted a little, turning her back halfway toward Adora when she went to sit next to her, a mannerism she knew to be a juvenile way of letting Adora know she was mad at her but that she expected Adora to make an effort. If she genuinely wanted to be left alone, she would walk away, and even then she expected to be chased. She never had quite figured out why she couldn’t just talk to Adora; goodness knew simply saying something would’ve saved her and the entire planet from a lot. 

Even after the time that had passed, Catra felt an unpleasant twinge of guilt tugging in her chest when she thought about all the things she’d said and done...and the one thing she had left unsaid that could’ve changed everything. Certainly, things were good now, and who could say, perhaps if she hadn’t been the catalyst in all the chaos that had resulted from her jealousy and stubbornness, someone else would’ve served in the same role and put the planet through the same things only for different reasons. However, knowing that it could’ve been inevitable regardless of her actions didn’t lessen the awful hollowness she felt when thinking about how terrible she’d been to everyone. 

“It’s been over a year since...” Adora trailed off as she looked around the garden, and sighed. “I can’t believe I actually miss her,” she said as she moved closer to Catra to be by her side, the little act the equivalent of chasing after her in this setting. Catra felt herself nudge as she began to stubbornly move again just to make Adora chase her further.

 _Don’t,_ she told herself and stopped, unsure why she was even doing any of this, what was the point? To see how far Adora would chase her? To see how long she would put up with having to give daily reminders of the fact that yes she would indeed chase after her? 

_That’s how the story always goes, isn’t it. I screw everything up and run away, she chases after me and fixes it all. Why is she the one who has to pay for my insecurities? Why am I like this?_ Catra sighed internally.

“Heeeyyy,” Adora drawled and bumped her shoulder into Catra’s. “...is all this really just because of the brushing?” she then asked, growing serious.  
“No,” Catra admitted in a wry chuckle.

“What then? What happened?”  
“You wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t because you still don’t talk to me, and I wish you would. I want to understand,” Adora said softly, reaching to put her hand over Catra’s.  
“It’s dumb,” Catra muttered, embarrassed it would even be a thing that would bother her so greatly, not wanting to say it out loud because the last thing she needed was to hear Adora laugh and brush (no pun intended) it off.

“Maybe it would be for me or to someone else, but I know it’s very serious to you,” Adora said quietly.   
“Remember what my hair was like when I was little?” Catra began and Adora nodded; her hair had been a noticeably lighter shade, very thin and fine...and always in tangles because thin and fine as it was, there was a lot of it. 

“What of it?” Adora asked, gently running her thumb back and forth over the back of Catra’s hand.

“Well...I don’t know how it was for you when you were little, namely I don’t know who taught you to make that stupid hair poof,” Catra began with a wry smirk and poked at said part of Adora’s trademark hairdo with her index finger, “but no one taught me how to care for mine, it’s not like there were other magicats in the Horde who I could’ve mimicked, so who do you think had to deal with it for me.”

“Shadow Weaver.”

“Yeah, and believe me, she wasn’t exactly gentle about it either, but it’s not even the brushing itself that bothered me; you know me, I can take having my hair pulled a little, that’s not a big deal,” Catra shrugged, “it was her constant need to remind me how useless I am because what else would you tell a kid who can’t even—”

“That’s just it, you were just a kid, and like you said, it’s not like you had anyone to show you how to do it, it wasn’t your fault,” Adora interrupted, and Catra swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat. Such a stupid thing to get so emotional about. So pathetic letting something so distant still hurt her this much, she was supposed to be tougher than this. 

_Except...maybe I’m not,_ Catra mused as she glanced down at her hand that was still in Adora’s. There were good things to be said for being open about her emotions, even if doing so often made her feel embarrassed because she didn’t want anyone to know about her soft side. Showing one before certainly hadn’t led to anything other than mockery and humiliation.

Shadow Weaver had never held back, and when she’d discovered something she could exploit in some way, she’d kept working at it until she’d broken you down so she could build you back up as an obedient soldier who respected her out of fear if nothing else.

Catra had long since figured out Shadow Weaver’s modus operandi and she’d spent time trying to convince herself that it didn’t matter what she said because she didn’t mean it, it was just her way of raising you to be tough and resilient...but deep down a part of her had always known it wasn’t entirely true. As skilled as Shadow Weaver had been at manipulation, Catra doubted she would’ve been able to fake all of it, which in return spoke volumes of her genuine resentment.

When she’d sat in a chair in front of Shadow Weaver who’d roughly pulled a brush through her tangled hair and humphed how pathetic it was that she couldn’t even groom herself properly and that it was no wonder no one wanted someone so useless around, it had all felt very real, very genuine, and it most likely had been just that. 

That feeling had been just the first scratch of what would eventually grow into a deep wound in her, every demeaning word from the only mother figure she’d ever known like a rusty blade digging deeper, spreading the darkness her heart had been infected with. Every perceived abandonment amplified by the hollow echo of Shadow Weaver telling her she’s worthless and deserves to be left behind. 

“If you hadn’t grown so fond of me, she probably would’ve killed me or thrown me out the moment she felt I wasn’t worth the effort.”  
“Catra—”  
“Don’t bother, we know it’s true. The one thing I never figured out was why she hated me so much. I wasn’t always a disrespectful nuisance, that came only after I realized how much it annoyed her.”

“Because you saw right through her,” Adora said. “She couldn’t control you with fear so she had to break you until your self-esteem relied on her approval. I know what I went through wasn’t as bad as how you had it, but...I know how it felt to chase after her approval and never be good enough for her.”

No, it wasn’t exactly the same but the effects of it were just as harmful, even if Adora didn’t seem to realize that about herself. She’d never stopped to think twice before charging off into battle, not caring what happened to her, not caring if the only way to make a difference was self-sacrifice, and she never would. That was her curse, being the one with the trying and rather tiresome savior-complex which did nothing to help Catra’s perpetual fear of being separated from Adora or worse, losing her completely.

That said, at least Adora’s damage made her come across as selfless and brave, it was easier to dismiss as damage whereas Catra was fated to being perceived as clingy and needy when all she wanted was really quite simple and not at all unreasonable; she wanted Adora to stay. She wanted to know that there’d be times when Adora would choose her first. It wasn’t a demand she’d made, _that_ would’ve been selfish; it was just what she wished for, to be with Adora and to be happy, was it really too much to want?

“I suppose I shouldn’t be so mean about someone who sacrificed herself for us, but a few words of encouragement before everything ends doesn’t erase a lifetime of abuse. Besides, I’m pretty sure she was really talking to you,” Catra muttered after a long silence which had surrounded them after she'd finished explaining the cause of her upset.  
“That isn’t—”

“Adora, don’t. We both know better.”  
“All right...for what it’s worth, I’m not expecting you to forgive her. Maybe someday you will be ready for that, but know that I understand why you wouldn’t ,” Adora said and reached to put her arm around Catra’s waist, pressing her side to hers. 

“Right, anyway...my point was that I’m not mad about the brushing. I just don’t like what it reminds me of. And...I guess it’s unfair to be upset since you couldn’t have known why I’d...” Catra trailed off upon realizing she owed Adora an apology, and that smug (yet oddly lovable) grin spread on Adora’s face as she waited for it. 

“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice,” Catra poked her tongue out at her.  
“I didn’t say anything,” Adora said in exaggerated innocence, shrugging one shoulder, still staring expectantly. 

“Urgh, fine! I’m sorry I got upset at you for not being able to read my mind and I apologize for being so bad at expressing myself and just telling you what’s wrong instead of making you chase me and interrogate me and promise me you’ll never leave and then keep reassuring me about it every fifteen minutes,” Catra groaned and Adora laughed softly before growing so serious the sudden shift of emotion easily visible on her face made Catra feel uneasy.

“To be fair, you’re not the one who should be apologizing. I hurt you more than I wanted to admit even to myself. It’s not like I didn’t know that leaving would hurt you, but I did it any—”  
“It did hurt, more than you can imagine, more than I’d ever imagined anything could hurt,” Catra interjected, “but you did ask me to come with you, and I chose not to, that’s on me.”

“I should’ve tried harder, I should’ve—”

“Adora, look...we can keep apologizing to each other for the rest of our lives but it’s not gonna change how things went. You left, I chose to fight you rather than join you, these were decisions we made and decisions we’ll have to live with because what's done is done. No more apologies, at least not over this, okay?” Catra interrupted gently, squeezing Adora’s hand in her own.

“I love you so much,” was all Adora could say to that and Catra smiled.  
“I love you too.”

“And just so you know, I am not going anywhere anymore, at least not without you,” Adora assured, nuzzling the side of Catra’s face, her words and the affectionate gesture causing her to purr involuntarily. “Well, except maybe go back to bed and spend the entire day just napping and relaxing, I don’t have anywhere to be and even if I did, I’d rather spend the day squishing the cat,” Adora added with a grin, stood up and held out her hand. 

“You, relax? I think we both know it’s physically impossible for you to relax,” Catra said, took Adora’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up, the force of the tug causing her body to gently clash into Adora’s, and she put her arms around her and pressed the side of her face against Adora’s shoulder.

“Well, maybe you can teach me how then,” Adora suggested with a soft laugh.

“That sounds like a plan, but this time...” Catra trailed off slowly retreating from the embrace, a grin pulling on the corner of her mouth as she took steps backward slipping her hand down along Adora’s arm and then letting go of her completely, the tell-tale back and forth swinging of her tail a dead giveaway of what was about to come, and Adora visibly braced herself.

“...this time the cat squishes you!” Catra yelled and pounced on Adora, both of them laughing happily as they fell down, Catra onto Adora and with no intent to move as they lay down holding each other, breathing in the scent of daisies.


End file.
